Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Seventh Blessing by Melissa Buell

The Seventh BlessingFrom Goodreads:

When Samantha, Princess of Mittra, discovers the fairy gifts she was blessed with are a lie, she must seek out her true gifts. 
On the continent of Gymandrol reside both humans and fairies but in separate kingdoms. A young fairy named Dagan discovers his magical ability and the force of that discovery rocks both the human and fairy worlds. 
Years later, Samantha, Princess of Mittra, discovers on her eighteenth birthday that the fairy gifts she was blessed with at birth are actually a cover up for a blunder made by two feuding fairies, she seeks out the meaning of her true gifts. THE SEVENTH BLESSING follows Sam’s discovery as to who she really is while learning to use her “boyish” blessings wisely. Sam uses her true blessings to help a friend in need which leads to her secretly entering the competition circuit of a knight, disguising her princess identity using fairy magic. 
Her feisty spirit and sharp tongue create problems when she becomes reintroduced to Nolan, Prince of Lagola, her archenemy from childhood, who is also on the tournament circuit. Samantha and Nolan discover the evil fairy, Dagan, still lives and must battle him in an ultimate test of bravery and skill.
This is a fun tale of Princess Samantha who is anything but dainty. Her gifts that were bestowed on her by the fae were really meant for a boy becoming a king. So, a false ceremony bestowing her fake gifts was given and she was trained in secret to become a knight. I really enjoyed this story as Sam was no wilting flower. She was still a princess and stayed to her duties as a princess despite her dislike of those duties. Nolan, a man who finds her incredibly attractive and interesting, was her nemesis as a child and she never forgave him until they both met as young adults. As their friendship grew so did their attraction to each other. I found this attraction frustrating as it too FOREVER for them to both settle down and admit they had this attraction to each other. The back and forth was a bit too much, but was nice when it was finally settled.


There was also a prologue which prefaced a war that set things up for the final battle. I actually found this to be unnecessary and actually confusing to the whole story. Also, when the bad guy had a bit of his past shown to Sam in the climax, I thought it was a bit too much there as well. I think the back story of Dagan (the bad fae) would be best totally taken out of this story and made into his own book. It just seemed like it was a story that wanted to be told, but didn't quite fit into the tale that was being told in this book.

I think this is a fun book that might need a bit more editing, and I give it 3 stars. It is a delightful tale of a princess who stood on her own to learn to become a leader rather than arm candy.

I was given this book by the author for an honest review. No compensation was given.

15 comments:

  1. Princess Samantha sounds wonderful, a real modern day heroine.

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  2. The premise would kill me, to be honest. I hate hate/loathe premises. This does sound cutesy though! Great review, Melissa :)

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  3. Sounds like a twist on the traditional fairy tale style story - and I do like Fairy stories...still another I might investigate more...why do you keep doing this to me? As if my tbr pile isn't big enough...:-)

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  4. I think that it sounds great (except for the fact that it would more than likely test my patience)... I might just have to check it out!
    :)

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  5. @Petty, you might like it, although it is set in the past. :)

    @Melissa... I know you hate premises and epilogues and it has both. I didn't mind the epilogue.

    @Mel... it is more of a twist on the fantasy genre. However, I can see faerie tale twists as well. :) And... hey, you are doing the same to me! :D

    @Avery, well, at least it isn't a quick romance! ;D

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  6. Nice review as always Melissa, I like the sound of Sam! It's hard when there's a lot of information tucked in a story about one character in particular and there's clearly enough potential there for a whole other book, but yet it's crammed into the middle of a separate story. Too bad on that part though the rest of it sounds interesting:)

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  7. A long ago Tom Boy who learns how to embrace both sides of herself, I like it! Plus there is this whole smoldering attraction with her childhood nemesis, sounds like something I need to check into!
    Thanks for the new to me author and book review Melissa, may never read the book but it sure sounds fun!


    jackie >_<

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  8. Ok arch-enemy makes me giggle, I think she took things way too seriously as a kid ;)

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  9. Enjoyed your review! Sounds like a fun book, and I like the idea of feuding fairies bestowing the wrong gifts on the princess!

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  10. I love the premise of a princess secretly training to be a knight - reminds of one of my favorite teen series, Alanna of Tortall. The cover and title really threw me off though.

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  11. Sounds like a good story! I love fairy tales with characters who are the opposite of the idea of the dainty princess.

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  12. I often don't get the point of prologues or epilogues. Why?

    They rarely enhance the story for me.

    And why beat around the bush when it comes to liking someone? Grrr...

    Thanks for the honest review hun. This one sounds like fun, also like something I could wait on.

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  13. It was a cute story.:)

    @Stephanie... I'll have to check out that series. I'm curious.
    @Missie... lol

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  14. ohhhh her name is Samantha and so is mine, that was it, I was hooked.

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  15. Great Review Chica!

    I am with you on the prologue/epilogue thing. I often don't understand having them and definitely not both! Sometimes I can understand one or the other (aka the prologue is set 15 years before the story or the epilogue set 15 years after the story) but if you do both then maybe just your story should encompass the whole time span.

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